Analysis | Harris shores up progressives, almost (2024)

Harris makes inroads with progressives

Many liberal lawmakers and activist Democratic voters never wavered from President Biden even as pressure mounted for him to drop out of the presidential race, believing he’s had one of the most consequential terms in recent history.

But Biden’s support among progressives was complex. Corners of the party including young people, Arab Americans and liberals broke with him over his support for Israel. Polling pointed to an apathetic party base.

Now, with the likely nomination of Vice President Kamala Harris, there are early signs she could make inroads with angry progressive activists and voters who struggled to enthusiastically support Biden despite major investments in clean energy, infrastructure, gun safety and student loan debt forgiveness.

The Harris campaign says it has raised more than $80 million in small-dollar donations in 24 hours. Progressive groups including MoveOn and Indivisible have gotten behind her. MoveOn says they’ve had their biggest fundraising day since 2016, raising more than $1 million, breaking the previous fundraising record when Harris was named Biden’s vice-presidential nominee in August of 2020.

She has won the support of key unions, including the AFL-CIO, SEIU, United Farm Workers and the American Federation of Teachers.

And many progressives in Congress have also endorsed her, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

“Vice President Harris is more than up to the task and ready to be president,” Ocasio Cortez, who had wanted Biden to stay in the race, told reporters Monday night.

Most importantly, she clinched the number of delegates needed to win the nomination last night with delegations in three dozen states endorsing her.

Liberals try to steer Harris

But not everyone is on board. She still has some work to do to win over some liberals who are working to steer her policies before they hand over their support and influence.

For instance, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who wrote an opinion piece last week saying Biden is “the strongest candidate to defeat Mr. Trump,” isn’t throwing his weight behind Harris yet.

As Biden bled support after his disastrous debate in late June, Sanders was able to extract a new campaign message from Biden, which we reported on earlier this month. That included many of Sanders’ priorities, including medical debt forgiveness, expansion of Medicare for hearing and dental and an expansion of Social Security benefits. He’s looking for a similar commitment from Harris.

After the two spoke yesterday, Sanders said on CBS News last night about what it would take to endorse Harris: “What I want to see, because I want her to win, is to speak to the needs of the people that have been forgotten for so many years.”

Moderate Democrats, of course, worry about liberals swaying Harris towards the left. It did not go unnoticed to House Democrats representing swing-districts that Biden cut a deal a few weeks ago with liberal counterparts.

“What I want to see out of the gate from her is a general election message. Messaging that a candidate can use to win in my district in a battleground state. So don’t go veer to the far-left,” one moderate House Democrat said. “You’re in the general election now. If Democrats are going to give you a path, you need to run like you understand what it takes.”

Gaza

The Israel-Gaza war is another hot button issue that was one of Biden’s biggest policy liabilities. That was made clear when he lost more than 730,000 voters who selected “uncommitted” in the Democratic primaries, including in Michigan, Minnesota and North Carolina.

Harris has separated herself from Biden on Israel. Speaking at the 59th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Ala., in March, she called for an immediate, temporary cease-fire. She was the first administration official to do so and that was noticed by anti-Israel activists.

Activists are pleased Harris is not presiding over Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress on Wednesday. They also want her to reiterate her call for a cease-fire and say she won’t continue to supply Israel with money and weapons unconditionally.

Not all are yet on board. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) is the one “squad” member that hasn’t endorsed Harris. She wants to talk to Harris about “ending the genocide” in Gaza.

Abbas Alawieh of Michigan is one of 30 uncommitted delegates at next month’s Democratic convention, a small but significant representation of the electorate that could determine the outcome of the election in November. He said they want to see more separation from Israel.

Harris has a real opportunity to bring back into the fold the voters fed up with Biden’s ongoing financial, diplomatic and militaristic support of Israel, he says.

“I see this as a moment when Vice President Harris has an opportunity to unite the party and unite Democratic voters on a different approach to Gaza,” Alawieh, who is also director of the Uncommitted National Movement, told us.

Liberal bright spots

While Harris ran to the left of Biden during the 2020 presidential primary, she has often been viewed with skepticism from some liberals because of her time as California’s top prosecutor. But her time on the Senate Judiciary Committee, including her tough questioning of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

She called out “the dangers of the extremists” of President Trump’s judicial nominees, said Maggie Jo Buchanan, managing director of Demand Justice, a liberal group that advocates for court diversity.

On a three-hour, at-capacity virtual video conference call Sunday night with 1,000 Black clergy from across the country, hours after Biden endorsed Harris, the clergy members enthusiastically backed her.

Pastor Michael McBride, co-founder of Black Church PAC, said he hasn’t seen the amount of energy and excitement in years.

“Folks are very loyal in our community, but you know, you can't fake energy, right?” McBride said of their support of Biden. “I think Kamala Harris represents not only a fresh path, but a whole new kind of opportunity to see a different kind of leadership. And that energy is palpable.”

What We’re Watching

On the trail

Harris heads to Milwaukee this afternoon for her first major campaign event as a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination hours after securing the backing of enough delegates to clinch her party’s nomination next month, our colleague Maeve Reston reports.

A new memo from the Harris for President campaign says there is no better place than Milwaukee for her first campaign stop. Trump accepted the GOP nomination there last week.

“Vice President Harris’s visit will highlight the choice facing Wisconsinites: between Donald Trump, the convicted felon who would drag this country backwards, and her brighter vision for the future, where our freedoms are protected and every American has a fair shot,” Brianna Johnson, Harris for President Wisconsin communications director, wrote in the memo.

We’re watching what sort of reception she gets on the trail and the focus of her stump speech.

On the Hill

The House is staying focused on investigating the assassination attempt against former president Donald Trump. The House Homeland Security Committee will hear from Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Colonel Christopher L. Paris and National President, Fraternal Order of Police Patrick Yoes one day after a contentious House Oversight Committee hearing with Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.

Another thing we’re watching in the House is whether Republicans will pass a rule to allow debate and final passage of two fiscal year 2025 funding bills — the Energy and Water and the Interior funding bills. (Rule votes traditionally pass on party lines only and Republicans have normalized sinking them in protest of the final product.) Rumors swirling among the GOP conference and Democratic caucus is that if the rule fails — or votes on the bills later this week fail, the House could recess as soon as this week for its August break away from Washington.

The Campaign

Harris reinvigorates effort to frame election around abortion rights

Democrats were already counting on the issue of abortion to help buoy them in November. Now they’re extra pumped that potentially having Harris at the top of their ticket will give them a strong edge with voters when it comes to reproductive rights.

Earlier this year, she went on a battleground state tour where she criticized abortion bans and met with Democrats over how to fight them.

Two prominent abortion rights groups endorsed Harris within hours of Biden dropping out and throwing his support behind her, and a third praised her:

Poll Watch

Swing-state voters give mixed reactions on Harris

One-hundred and fifty-two registered voters from six battleground states responded to an email request from The Washington Post and George Mason University’s Schar School seeking reaction to Harris’s likely nomination. Here’s how they responded:

The voters are part of a large pool of people The Post has classified as “Deciders,” voters who either had not been firmly committed to either Biden or Trump or whose participation in November is not wholly predictable because of their age, voting history or both. The Post’s Deciders live in one of six key swing states: Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania or Wisconsin.

From The Post Live stage

Programming note for Washington Post Live:

From the courts

$30 million gift will fund center to push for SCOTUS overhaul

Jim Kohlberg, philanthropist and chairman of a private equity firm, has pledged $30 million to launch a first-of-its-kind center pushing to overhaul the Supreme Court, after a series of ethics controversies and conservative rulings prompted rising scrutiny of the justices, The Post’s Justin Jouvenal reports.

The major gift will fund research, public outreach and policy advocacy over a decade at the prominent Brennan Center for Justice, which is affiliated with New York University.

“The announcement comes amid a flurry of Democratic activity related to reshaping the high court, which includes forthcoming proposals from President Biden to limit justices’ terms and enact a binding ethics code, legislation capping gifts to justices, and a referral of Justice Clarence Thomas to the Justice Department for possible prosecution,” Justin writes.

The Media

Must-reads from The Post:

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